Saturday, November 23, 2024

Harry Kane faces late fitness test as Bayern Munich prepare for Aston Villa game

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The England captain hobbled out of Bayern’s Bundesliga draw with Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday after suffering an ankle injury.

He trained on Tuesday morning and travelled with the squad to Birmingham, but a final decision will not be made on his fitness until the day of the match.

Bayern boss Vincent Kompany said: “I think you have seen he was on the pitch today. Training went well, we will still have to wait until tomorrow to see how the situation is and tomorrow we will make the correct decision.

“He trained today and hopefully everything will work out fine.”

Kompany is back in England after leaving Burnley in the summer following their relegation to the Championship.

But he arrives with no regrets and says he has nothing to prove.

“I think it is important to separate things, every challenge you take on has totally different parameters, the context is totally different,” the former Manchester City defender added.

Vincent Kompany will lead Bayern Munich into Wednesday’s Villa Park clash (Mike Egerton/PA)

“It is most important for a coach to say you have done everything you could.

“As a coach you should have no regrets. I don’t come here carrying things from the past. It is different players, different club, different season.”

Kompany was on the losing side against Villa twice last season and said Unai Emery delivered an “extraordinary” campaign.

He added: “You all know it has been 40 years since they had their last Champions League game here and last season was extraordinary for Aston Villa.

Unai Emery gestures with his right arm whule speaking at a press conference
Unai Emery has taken Aston Villa into the Champions League (Mike Egerton/PA)

“They deserve to be here, it is a well-organised team and at home they have fantastic support.

“But Bayern Munich is used to those nights and I am sure the players will be highly motivated and we want to have fun as well.

“All in all I spent 13 years, my wife and children are English. But tomorrow it is all about Bayern Munich and hopefully we can achieve the result we want.

“That is important, I know this stadium very well, I know the manager very well and I have made lots of experiences and I can share them with my players. We don’t want to change too much.”

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